The costs of using a private, third-party Central Examination Site (CES) designated by CBP should be the responsibility of the importer, rather than the customs broker, said Cataract Customs Brokers in comments to CBP. The comments were filed in response to a seemingly unconnected Federal Register notice announcing the date and agenda for the Dec. 4 meeting of the Advisory Committee for Commercial Operations (COAC).
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
New lobbyist registrations on trade issues include:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The legislation introduced Dec. 7 by House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) to modernize CBP and other customs-related agencies would set a minimum standard for the amount of information customs brokers would be required to collect about an importer.
CBP posted a Dec. 10 version of its CF 1400 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Entrances) electronic query report of the Vessel Management System (VMS), in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by entrances. CBP also posted a version of its CF 1401 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Clearances) electronic query report of the VMS, in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by clearances.
CBP released its Dec. 12 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 51). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent Court of International Trade decisions.
CBP said the following customs broker licenses, as well as any and all permits, have been canceled with prejudice::
CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Dec. 10. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.
CBP is moving toward mutual recognition with Israel, the agency said in a press release. CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar and Israeli Customs Director General Doron Arbely signed a joint work plan, said CBP Dec. 7. The work plan establishes a pathway to signing a mutual recognition agreement between CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Israeli Tax Authority’s Authorized Economic Operator Program.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance voiced appreciation for the inclusion of Rep. Charles Boustany's Preventing Recurring Trade Evasion and Circumvention Act (PROTECT) within the the Customs Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2012 (HR-6642). HR-6642 was introduced Dec. 7 by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).